The Feelings I Have Inside
by Dance4Life060700
Summary: Episodes 17-22 and 24 of After Story in Ushio's POV.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Let's Plan a Trip

(This chapter was not in After Story. This whole story is from Ushio's POV)

I'm sitting at the table with my coloring book and crayons. I'm drawing what's right in front of me-the living room. So far, I've drawn the TV and dresser. Next, I need to draw the doorway and color in everything.

Sanae is in the kitchen making dinner. I don't know where Akki is. He's probably outside somewhere, playing baseball.

I've always wanted to know who my Mommy and Daddy are. I've only seen them in pictures. But no matter how many times I ask, no one will tell me about them.

I know four things about Mommy. I know that she passed away after I was born. Second, she looks really pretty and happy in all of the pictures that I saw of her. Three, she _loves _the Big Dango Family. Forth, I know that she is watching me from Heaven.

But I don't know anything about my Daddy. I only know that he's alive somewhere…I just don't know where. There's so much that I want to know about him and Mommy.

I got up from the table and walked into the kitchen. I stood next to Sanae and tugged her apron.

She looked down at me with a smile on her face. I love that smile.

"Hello, Ushio." She smiled.

"Sanae, can I ask you a question?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Of course you can! What's the question?"

I had already asked Sanae and Akki about Mommy, so I thought that I should ask about my Daddy, "Can you tell me about my Daddy?" I asked.

Sanae went back to cooking dinner. Everything was quiet for a minute or so.

"I'll tell you what," Sanae said as she turned off the stove and put the food onto a tray, "How about we go on a trip?" she asked.

"A trip?" I asked as I followed her into the living room. She placed the food on the table and knelt down to my size.

She looked me in the eyes, "Yes. A trip with you, me, Akki, and your Daddy." She smiled.

I nodded my head happily. I couldn't believe it-finally, after wondering, asking, and waiting…I was finally going to meet my Daddy.

* * *

The next day, me and Akki stayed home. Sanae said that she had to buy train tickets and run some errands. It was Thursday, and we were leaving for the trip next weekend.

When Sanae came home, she used the phone. I was watching TV and I was wearing my favorite dango pajamas.

"It's Sanae! Have you made up your mind about the trip?" she asked the person. Then there was a pause, "Alright. Keep thinking and I'll call you back later!" she hung up. She dialed another number, followed by another pause, "So have you thought about it yet?" Silence. "Then I take it it's a yes?" she asked happily. Another long pause, "That's perfect! Thank you!" she hung up.

* * *

Before I knew it, it was time for bed. Sanae and Akki tucked me in the same way they do every single night-they gave me a dango plushy, put the covers over my body, and kissed me good night. Then, they turned off the light and closed the door behind them.

"Good night, Mommy," I whispered, "I love you." I know that she loves me back.

* * *

Time flew by, and it was already the day of the trip. I was ready-I was dressed, my hair and teeth were brushed, and my backpack was on my back, already packed. The only thing was missing was my hat, which Akki started putting on my head.

"Ushio, Sanae and I are going out somewhere, alright?" Akki said as he finished putting my hat on.

"But what about the trip?" I asked.

"Don't worry, you're still going." Akki said as he stood up. Sanae left a note on the table, and put two tickets on top of it.

I was really excited, but nervous at the same time. I was nervous because I didn't know what my Daddy would be like. But I pushed the negative thoughts away and tried to focus on the positive.

Akki and Sanae hugged and kissed me good bye. They left and I was alone-but not for long. A few minutes later, I heard the door open, followed by a man's voice.

"I'm here." The voice said, "Sanae, hello?" the voice paused, "Old man?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Summertime

**A/N- So, each chapter is going to be one episode, each from Ushio's POV. Thus, the chapter names will be what the episode was called. In this case, episode 17 was called 'Summertime'.**

**So please review, and the next chapter should be up soon! **

I then heard the pitter-patter of his feet as he wondered around the house. He found the note that Sanae left him. He picked up the note, "I guess they left me a note…" he said to himself. Little did he know that I was in the house, too. "You're-you're kidding me, right?" he asked after he read the note.

All of a sudden, I realized something, "That man is my father." I thought. I could just tell that it was him from the pictures. I got really nervous. Why, I didn't know. I just wanted to go to my room, and I didn't want him to find me. I ran across the kitchen, as quietly as I could. I don't know if he heard me or not. I ran upstairs, but he followed me. Then, he spotted a room. It was a room that I have only been in only a few times before-it was my Mommy's room.

"Nagisa…" he said to himself.

'He might find me…' I thought. I ran past him and down the stairs, as quietly and quickly as possible.

But he went back down the stairs and I was running out of places to hide. I ran past him again, and hid behind the doorway of the kitchen. It was the only place I could think of.

"Ushio?" he called out. I gasped a little bit-I had no idea that he knew me. I thought that he forgot about me.

I stuck half of my head and body out of the doorframe and I tried to avoid eye contact. When I built enough courage, I walked out of the doorframe. He just stared at me, with his dark blue eyes. He wouldn't stop, and it was silent the whole time. It was really awkward, so I hid back behind the doorframe. I don't think he likes me very much.

"Stop hiding, you don't have to be so nervous. Now come on out, okay?" he said.

As much as I didn't want to, I stopped hiding.

"So Sanae and the Old Man had to leave, huh?" he asked me. I knew that he was trying to make conversation. "So what are we going to do?"

I didn't know how to respond, so I said that first thing that came to mind, "I want Sanae." I squeaked.

"Didn't you just hear me? I said that Sanae wasn't here." he said sternly.

"I want Akki."

"The Old Man isn't here, either." He said.

'Why does he keep calling Akki 'Old Man'? He's not that old, is he?' I thought.

There was another moment of silence.

He sighed. "You gotta be kidding me, what, did they just leave without telling you anything at all?" he asked angrily.

I nodded yes. But it wasn't true. They told me that they were going out somewhere, they just didn't know exactly where.

"So what do you want to do?" he asked one more time.

This time, I said what I really wanted to do, "I wanna go on a trip."

He put his hands on his hips, "Yeah, well that ain't happening. Sanae and the Old Man are gone, remember? So you want to go on a trip alone, is that it?"

"No, I wanna go with Sanae and Akki." I replied with a little more confidence.

"What did I just tell you?" he asked.

I was so disappointed. I was a little scared to go on the trip with him, but it could have given me a chance to overcome my sadness and become close with my Daddy…can I even call him Daddy? I barley know him, and I don't know if he considers me his daughter. If he doesn't, then I shouldn't call him Daddy.

* * *

It smelled like smoke in the house. Not the kind of smoke that happens when someone cooks, but an icky smelling smoke. I poked my head around the doorframe, and saw my 'Daddy', sitting there smoking. He looked like he was deep in thought. I took a long, good look at him. The only sound I could hear was my breathing.

"Ushio." He turned and looked at me. I was so caught off guard! I quickly hid back behind the doorframe. He didn't say anything, so I stopped hiding and looked at him.

"Are you trying to hide from me?" he asked.

'How did he know?!' I thought.

"I can still see you." He continued.

'Well I guess this wasn't a very good hiding spot…' I thought.

"Don't just stand there, come sit with me."

I slowly obeyed.

"You can sit down ." He said.

I didn't sit down. I just stood there.

"Have it your way." He sighed, "Anyway, um, wherever the heck they went, I'm sure the Old Man and Sanae will be back later tonight. For now, let's just stay here and wait. Sound good?"

I slowly rocked my body from side to side, "But the trip…" I said quietly and disappointedly. I stopped rocking.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you can go somewhere nice after they get back." He took a new cigarette out from his shirt pocket, "Until then, why don't you go play by yourself?"

"Okay!" I tried to sound happy. I didn't mind playing by myself, but it would have been nice if he offered to play with me. I didn't want to be a bother to him, though, so I ran off so that I could play by myself, just like he asked me to.

I heard him mumble something to himself. I continued running, but looked back to see if he was following me again.

Before I knew it, _**BAM!**_ I had tripped over one of my toys that I hadn't picked up earlier. I landed flat on my face, right where me and 'Daddy's' sandals were. My stomach was pressed up against the step.

"Ushio?" I heard 'Daddy' call my name.

'Don't cry,' I thought to myself, 'Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry…' All that came out of my mouth were silent whimpers and I sniffled every now and then.

All of a sudden, I felt someone lift me up. That person was 'Daddy'.

"That's what you get for running in the house. Did you hurt yourself? " He asked me as he sat me on my bottom.

I kept whimpering and sniffling. If I could, I would have bursted into tears-but I wasn't allowed to cry in front of people.

He lifted my arm and head and examined me, "You got a scrape anywhere?" he put my head and arm down, "Looks like you're in good shape…Be careful okay?"

I stopped whining and sniffling. Then, something caught my eye. I put my sandals on and slowly walked over to my toy, . I bent down and picked him up. I bent down one more time and picked up his wheel and tail, which had broken off of him when I tripped over him. How he got all the way over there, I will never know.

I was slowly followed by my 'Daddy', who bent down to my height.

"Is that the toy you were playing with?" he asked nicely.

"Mm-hm." I replied.

"Huh. Seems like poor didn't survive the fall."

"I'm sorry, ." I sadly said to . I felt bad for . He didn't do anything but make me happy. And what do I do? I hurt him. Poor little turtle…

Out of nowhere, 'Daddy' took hand. Our hands looked kind of funny next to each other. 'Daddy's hand looked really big next to my tiny hands.

He observed carefully, "Hm…nothing a little glue can't fix up, right?" he asked me.

I looked up at him-it was a really good idea! would be better in no time!

"Hang on a sec," he said as he took 's broken tail and wheel out of my other hand, "I'll put it back together.

I took my sandals off at the step then followed him into the living room.

* * *

'Daddy' put a little more glue where 's tail used to be. He had already put his wheel on. He the bottle of glue and put 's tail back where it should be. I watched, amazed by how he fixed so good and fast.

"You can still see the crack, but it's not all that noticeable. Beats having its head torn off at least." He said as he handed back to me. I stood up and took from him cautiously, "Don't play with it until it dries. Otherwise the wheels will get stuck." He warned me.

I ran off into my room to put in a special place so that he could dry. I kept him there for a good five minutes, 'He should be okay by now.' I thought and grabbed . I started to play with him, but after a while he wouldn't move. I walked back to living room and poked my head around the corner. And lying right in front of me was my 'Daddy's sleeping figure.

'Hmm…well Akki and Sanae told me that if there was ever an emergency, then I should tell someone…' I thought. I looked at poor , who I was holding in one of my hands, '…well this is an emergency! is hurt!'

I slowly walked over to 'Daddy's sleeping figure. I knelt down and shook his shoulder, hoping he would wake up. He did eventually. He groaned a little but as his eyes fluttered open. He looked at me and slowly sat up.

"What is something wrong?" he groggily asked.

" won't move anymore." I told him, trying to avoid eye contact.

He carefully took out of my hand and tried to move the wheel that he glued back on.

"Hmm…I thought so. I told you not to play with it until the glue dried, didn't I?" He stopped examining , "Well it's busted, the wheel won't turn anymore. Sorry."

"You can't fix him again?" I asked.

"Nope, he's done. As good as dead. What should I do now? Throw him in the trash?"

I couldn't believe that he was considering throwing poor in the trash! I quickly grabbed from him and shook my head no.

"Hey, I'm just kidding." He said.

'That's not even something to joke about! is very important and should be treated as such." I thought to myself. I looked back at , trying to think of a way that I could fix him. Then I looked at my 'Daddy'. Then, I had a thought, 'Maybe he can tell me about my Mommy…' I thought as I looked at 'Daddy'.

"Hm? Is there something else you want?"

"I want Sanae." I lied. Yes, I missed Sanae, but I want to know so many things about 'Daddy'. Like, why is this the first time I'm meeting you? Why haven't I seen you before when you're supposed to be my Daddy? Can you tell me anything about my Mommy? Those questions ran through my head.

He got onto his knees and looked past me, "What, is she back now?"

"No, she's gone…" I replied.

"I see…" he looked at the clock, "…I'm getting hungry. "

We got up and he opened the fridge. He didn't see anything to his likes.

He looked down at me, "I'll go buy us some dinner. Anything in particular you want? If you don't give me a suggestion, then you can't complain." He closed the fridge.

* * *

A few minutes after my 'Daddy' left, I put on my shoes and followed behind him. I was very far away, but I could still see him. We walked for a while until I heard someone call out, "Okazaki, I haven't seen you in ages."

My 'Daddy' paused, which gave me a chance to catch up and stand right behind him.

"Oh, uh, hello." He said.

The lady looked at me, "Aren't you a lucky girl, Ushio? Are you going shopping with your Daddy today?"

'So I _can_ call him my Daddy…' I thought.

Daddy looked back, "Huh?" then down at me, "When did you get here?"

"I'm sorry to hear that the two of you have been living apart," the lady said to my Daddy, "Not that I blame you. I know you work full time and it's hard for a child to grow up in a single parent home."

'Is that why I never met him? Is that why I don't live with him?' I wondered.

"Oh, but you do visit each other sometimes, don't you?" she asked Daddy.

'I wish that we did but we don't…' I thought. 'I wonder if Daddy was thinking the same thing?'

"Yeah, once in a while…" Daddy said.

'So he doesn't think that? He just lies instead? I guess he lied for a reason…' I thought.

She looked at me, "Of course, I'm sure you'd be lonely if you didn't see each other." She looked back at my Daddy, "Even if you live apart, you two are still family, right?"

"Uh, y-yeah, of course." Daddy said.

I looked up at Daddy. 'So he _does_ think of me as his daughter? Or is he just saying that?' I thought.

"Bye-bye, Ushio," the lady said. I looked back at her, "you have fun shopping with your Daddy!" she turned and walked away.

I looked back up to Daddy. Daddy looked back at me.

* * *

I stood next to Daddy as I watched him cook. I have no idea what Daddy was cooking.

He placed a small bottle of pepper on the counter. When he placed it, some pepper must've flown from the bottle. Somehow, pepper got in my nose and made me sneeze. Daddy looked down on me as I covered my nose.

* * *

A few minutes later, Daddy placed some weird looking rice in front of me, "Here. Eat up."

I looked at the food. It didn't look very tasty.

"C'mon, help yourself," he said as he sat down, "you're a big girl, you can eat on your own."

I put my hands together, bowed my head, and closed my eyes, "I am grateful for this meal." I opened my eyes and grabbed my spoon from the table. I tried to scoop some of the weird rice onto the spoon, but I had to put some on there with my hand. I opened my mouth, moved my hand, and put the spoon into then out of my mouth. I chewed the food very slowly.

It had a weird taste to it. There was only one word I could say to describe it, "Bitter." I said.

"Huh? It's bitter?" Daddy asked. He put some rice onto his chopsticks and put some in his mouth, "Oh, it's the pepper, huh?" he said after a few moments of silence.

"Sorry, but you can't expect me to make fried rice without pepper. Just be a good girl and eat it."

'So that's what this stuff is called…' I thought. I looked Daddy straight in the eye, "Nu-uh." I told him.

"C'mon, Ushio, gimme a break. Didn't Sanae teach you not to be a picky eater?" he asked.

I started to play with the fried rice that was sticking to my thumb and pointer finger, "Yeah, but the stuff Sanae cooks me isn't all icky."

"Fine, don't eat it." Daddy said. He angrily put fried rice in his mouth. I sat there, playing with the rice on my fingers. I put them together, and pull them apart. It was pretty boring.

"Would you eat it if I took the pepper out?" he finally asked.

I didn't look up or stop playing with the rice on my fingers, "Mm-hm."

"But it might taste even worse if I do that."

I looked up at him, "Rice!"

"What kind? You just want some plain rice?"

"Mm-hm."

"Alright, well that's easy for me…" he said as he stood up.

* * *

I had pushed the fried rice aside. Daddy placed a small bowl of rice in front of me.

"There you go, plain rice."

I put my spoon in my mouth and looked at both plates, back and forth.

"That's an interesting combination you got there. Fried rice with rice." Daddy said.

"Ick!" I said as I pushed my plate of fried rice towards Daddy.

"D-eh. What do you think you're doing?" he asked me.

I held my bowl of rice, "Just want this."

He sighed, "If that's all you eat while I'm eating fried rice, then it'll look like child abuse!"

'Child abuse? Either way, no one else is here…' I thought. Then I got an idea. I got up and ran to the kitchen. I came back moments later and sat back at the table. I opened the pack of seasoning that I had grabbed and started pouring it onto my rice.

"Oh, seasoning it, huh?" Daddy asked.

I placed the empty packet of season on the table. I put my hands together, closed my eyes, and bowed my head, "I am grateful for this meal." I opened my eyes, grabbed my spoon, and started eating my rice. It tasted much better than that icky fried rice. Soon after, Daddy started eating too.

* * *

Soon after dinner was over, I fell asleep in the living room. I would have gone into my bedroom, but I was already too comfortable. Lying there with my head on the pillow and that small blanket was fine.

I woke up the next morning and got ready right away. I got dressed and brushed my teeth and hair. I heard someone outside, opening the bakery. I put my shoes on, and walked outside. I saw Daddy stretching.

"You're up too, huh?" Daddy asked me.

I looked at him for a second, but needed to use the bathroom, "I gotta pee." I told him.

"Then go ahead." He said.

I quickly nodded and ran off. I came back a few minutes later, "I did it all by myself." I said proudly.

"Well I should hope so." He said.

'So that's not something to be proud of?' I thought.

* * *

Daddy and I sat next to each other on the single stair in the bakery. The thing that covers the store at night was opened enough for Daddy and me to see out the window.

A family walked by. I heard the Daddy laughing. I've never heard my Daddy laugh like that. "We'll go swimming later, okay?" the Daddy said. My Daddy didn't offer to do fun things with me.

Then the kid started to laugh. My Daddy hasn't heard me laugh before.

"Daddy, are you gonna swim with us?" the boy asked happily.

"You bet I am. I used to be on the swim team!" then he started to laugh again. My Daddy never told me any cool stories about him.

"Umm…" I started.

"What's up?" Daddy asked.

"I gotta go number two." I told him.

"Then go ahead." He sighed.

I stood up, using Daddy's leg to help me balance. I ran to the bathroom. When I was in the bathroom, I didn't just go number two. I also cried a little. It was the only place that I could cry.

When I finished, I flushed the toilet and washed my hands. I put a small smile on my face and opened that bathroom door. I walked back to my Daddy, "I did it all by myself-"

"You don't have to brag about it every single time." He looked at me, "I can do it by myself too, you know."

That hurt. When he said that, I wasn't very proud anymore. I just stood there.

I watched as he dug into his pocket. He pulled out a piece of paper.

"You still wanna go on that trip?" he asked me.

My spirits lightened, "I sure do." I said.

"Well what if it's just you and me?"

I thought about it, 'Just me and my Daddy?' I nodded, "Mm-hm."

"You sure? Even with a mean guy like me? Sanae and the Old Man won't be coming, you know."

"They can't, they haven't come back yet." I said sternly.

He looked down, "That's kind of strange, isn't it? They just left us alone, huh?"

"Yup." I nodded in agreement.

After a moment, he looked up at me, "Alright, just the two of us then."

I smiled and nodded, "Mm-hm!"

* * *

I slipped one show on. Then the other. I stomped my feet on the ground to make sure that they fit correctly.

Daddy looked back at me, "Didn't forget anything , did you?"

"Nu-uh!" I told him as I stood up.

"Made sure the doors were locked?"

"Yup."

"Then off we go." He said as he mini-fist-pumped the air.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed as I full-fist-pumped the air.

We've been walking for about five minutes now. The weather was just right-hot, but followed by a cool breeze every now and then.

I was walking next to my Daddy, trying to walk a little fast so that I could keep up. Eventually, I started falling behind, so I skipped all the way to where Daddy and me were going. I'm not sure how long it will take to get there, but on this trip, I want to become close with my Daddy. I want to learn stuff about my Daddy, and maybe even my Mommy. I want to know if my Daddy loves me and thinks of me as his daughter.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Ends if the Earth

Me and Daddy sat next to each other on the train. There was a little boy, trying to get his Mommy's attention, 'Maybe if I try to get Daddy's attention, Daddy will play a game with me!' I thought. I turned in Daddy's direction and tugged on his shirt sleeve.

He looked at me, "Huh? What is it?"

"Play with me." I said. I let go of his sleeve. I wish that I asked him in a nicer way, but I'm desperate. I just want him to play with me like everyone else's parent's do.

"Alright, well, what do you do with Sanae?" he asked as he moved into a more comfortable position.

"She reads me books."

"Did you bring any books with you?"

I shook my head no.

"Eh…" he placed his head on his hand, "What about with the Old Man?"

"Baseball." I answered instantly.

"You play baseball?" he asked with a shocked look on his face.

"Mm-hm!" I nodded. I got off of my seat, "Like this-" I walked over to the isle and got into position, "Come adda." I impersonated, just like I do with Akki.

"Are you doing an impression?" he asked me.

"You mean it isn't funny?" I asked.

"It's not funny at all."

Those words hurt. I acted like it was no big deal and walked back to my seat, "That's too bad." I let my body go limp with disappointment. I sat in my seat. I watched my legs swing back and forth.

The little boy kept tugging at his Mommy's shirt, and kept called her name. He must have really wanted her to play with him. It was a little annoying, but I know that he just wants his Mommy. I know that I want my Mommy…

"_Shut up!_" my head shot up and I saw my Daddy…_my Daddy,_ yelling at the little boy. I gasped at the sight, and felt my eyes fill with tears as he angrily said, "_There are other people on this train, you know!"_

Daddy continued to yell the boy about his misbehaving. Everyone was looking at him. I knew that I was going to start to cry. I quietly ran past him and found the nearest bathroom. I locked myself in and cried. Daddy was a little harsh to me before, but I never thought that at see him yell. Weather it was at me, or other people, it was still scary.

I pulled myself together as quickly as I could and unlocked the bathroom door. I opened it and speed-walked to the sink in front of me.

'I'll go back to my seat when it looks like I wasn't crying.' I thought, 'I don't think Daddy will care if I take a while, but I still don't want him to wor-'

"Ushio, let me know first if you're going to the bathroom, okay?" it was Daddy.

I looked down. I guess he did care. I still didn't want him to see that I was crying, though. If he did see, he might think that I'm a crybaby, and Sanae might be upset that someone saw me cry.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

I looked at him, hoping that he couldn't tell that I was crying.

"Y-You weren't crying ,were you?" he asked me.

'I guess it was noticeable.' I thought.

I looked down and shook my head.

"C'mon, don't lie to me."

"I'm not supposed to cry." I squeaked.

"Huh? Who told you that?" he asked me.

"…Sanae."

"Sanae? Even she can be strict, huh? Who knew?"

"But she said that there was one place where she said that it was okay to cry." I explained. Actually, there were two. But I can't cry where the second one is.

"Hm? And where is that?"

I looked up at him for a second. He looked at me. I looked away, "In the bathroom…"

"Fair enough," he looked away, "I guess nobody would see you crying if you did it in the bathroom…but if you feel like crying, I don't think you should have to hold back."

I looked up at him.

"You should cry while you still can. When you get bigger, sometimes you can't cry…even if you have something you wanna cry about…"

* * *

When we got off of the train, we walked into the train station. We still had to take two more trains before we got to where we wanted to go. But today, we're taking one train, then spending the night at a hotel. When we wake up, we'll go on the final train and arrive at our destination!

We walked side by side. I looked down the whole time.

"Hey," he said. I stopped and looked back. "Do you want me to buy you a toy?"

I looked at all of the girl toys. There were a lot of toys-jump ropes, little lanterns, temporary tattoos, necklaces-but nothing really looked all that fun.

"Hey."

I turned around. Daddy was holding this really cool looking robot.

"Maybe you'd like this one instead?"

I took one glance at that robot. "Yup!" I nodded my head.

* * *

We were on the train once again. The second I sat in my seat, I took the robot out of its box. I've been playing with it since. It was a lot funner than some of the toys I had at home. And it was also the first thing from him. I continue playing with my robot, trying to find some cool things that it can do. I didn't press any of the buttons yet, just in case it was loud. I didn't want to bother anyone else. Especially my Daddy-I didn't want him to get mad at me.

"It's fine if you don't like it…" I heard Daddy say.

I looked over at him, "Hm?"

"Well…I mean you'd probably rather have a girl's toy, right? Instead of a robot?"

I shook my head no. "Girl's toys are boring-" I looked down at my robot, "I like robots!"

"Well, there's no harm, I guess, it's just a little strange…"

"Hm?"

"No, never mind, keep playing."

I nodded yes.

'Why is it strange? Robots can be for girls, too. Some girls just don't like robots.' I thought. 'I guess it just makes me unique.' I said, trying to focus on the positive.

I continued playing with my robot. 'Maybe my robot would like to see the view!' I thought. I stood my robot on the windowsill and let him see the view. 'Maybe I should give my robot a name. Maybe I should name him what Daddy's name is…' I thought. 'That'll be a memory of my Daddy…what is my Daddy's name? Should I just name my robot Daddy?'

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the night. I had to go to the bathroom, so I quietly got up. I didn't want to wake Daddy up. He showed me where the bathroom was in this hotel, so I think that I can find it on my own.

I opened the door as quietly as I could. I started to walk out the door.

"What's wrong?" I turned around. I guess I woke Daddy up.

I looked at him with sleepy eyes, "Gotta potty."

"Huh?"

"Number two." I told him a little louder so that he could hear me.

He nodded and got lye back in bed, "It's dark, so be careful."

"Kay." I said as I opened the second door. I left the room.

I guess Daddy didn't want me to go alone, so he followed me.

I slowly went down the stairs, went to the bathroom, washed my hands, and closed the door behind me.

"I did it all by myself." I told Daddy. 'I hope he doesn't get upset that I said that again…' I thought.

"Good for you." He said as he stopped leaning on the vending machine.

'Phew.'

We started walking back to our hotel room. We walked by a bunch of windows. I spotted a green light out of the corner of my eye. I stopped and leaned forward so I could see it better.

"So what is it this time?" he asked me.

I pointed at the light, "What is that thing?"

"Hm?" He walked closer to the windows and looked at the light, "Oh…it's a firefly. You know what that is, right?"

I looked closer at the light, amazed at what I saw. "I've never seen one before."

"It must come out later here."

I walked even closer to the window. I stared at the light for a second. Then I looked at my Daddy. 'Should I ask him about my Mommy?' I thought.

"Hm?" he looked down at me. I looked down at the floor.

"Something wrong?" he asked me.

I shook my head, keeping my head down.

"What, do I have something funny on my face?"

I shook my head again.

"Then stop staring at me like that, it's not very polite…"

I looked at him one more time. I wanted to ask about my Mommy, but I was too scared to. 'Can you tell me about my Mommy?' I thought as if I were asking him.

He looked at me again. I looked at the floor again.

"C'mon, what do you want? If there's something you wanna say, then just say it!" he told me impatiently.

"I get it," he said after a moment of silence, "you won't talk 'cuz you're still afraid of me, aren't you?"

He knelt down to me, "Alright, out with it already! I promise I won't yell anymore, okay?"

'Okay, I guess I should ask him then. If he says that he won't yell, then I'll ask.' I thought. I looked at him, "I want you to tell me about my Mommy."

He gasped in shock. I don't know why he was caught so off guard. He stood up and looked outside. "Why don't you ask Sanae?"

"I did, but she wouldn't say anything to me." I answered truthfully.

He sighed, "She wants me to tell you, huh?"

I looked at the ground.

"Ask Sanae when we get back." He started walking back to the room, "Say you asked me and I wouldn't tell you anything."

I stood there alone. Why was no one telling me anything about my Mommy? I have a right to know, don't I?

I eventually went back to the room. I got into my futon and fell asleep in a few minutes.

I had a dream. Me, Mommy, and Daddy were in it. Daddy and me were holding hands. Mommy was standing right across from us, smiling her beautiful smile that I saw in all of the pictures of her. Daddy was wearing a uniform and Mommy was wearing a pretty dress. The wind was blowing and a few cherry blossom leafs were flying around.

It was such a nice dream. I loved it because Mommy was happy, watching us from Heaven. And me and Daddy were close. He was holding my hand and we both saw Mommy. I wish that we could be a happy family in real life…

* * *

Daddy and me got off of the train. When I went to the bathroom last night I should have just went to the bathroom and went back to bed instead of wasting my time. I could have gotten more sleep and I wouldn't be so sleepy right now. I held my robot in my hand and slowly walked off of the train.

"Ushio," Daddy said to me, "don't fall asleep now."

I stood there for a second. I felt him pull my hat down into position.

"Here," he said as he pulled it down, "you gotta put your hat on the right way."

I whimpered. Right now, I don't care if my hat is on the right way or not. I just want to go to sleep.

"I hope you're ready, we gotta whole lotta walking to do." He said.

I looked up at Daddy who had finished fixing my hat. We looked at each other for a second, 'Is Daddy doing something that other Daddies do to their daughters?' I thought as I looked at him.

He stood up grumpily, "Let's go."

"Okay." I nodded my head.

We started walking. We walked for several minutes. We finally reached our destination-it was a huge field of flowers. It was one of the prettiest sights I ever saw.

"Do you wanna have a better view?" Daddy asked me.

I turned my head towards him, "Uh-huh!" I said happily.

"Kay." he walked behind me, "Here, spread your feet apart for me."

I did as instructed. All of a sudden, he lifted me up on his shoulders. I closed my eyes and my belly got butterflies as he lifted me up. I opened my eyes and the butterflies went away.

I looked at him. "Wow, you're really light!" he told me, "Look!"

I looked in front of me. I gasped with happiness. The view was great! There were so many flowers! The flowers looked so pretty in the sunlight!

"How is it?" Daddy asked.

I slightly kicked my feet back and forth, "It's so pretty!"

I held my robot in my hand. I ran through the flowers, holding Robot Daddy high in the air. I was laughing with joy.

"Don't go too far, stay where I can see you!" Daddy reminded me.

I waved to him to make sure that I wasn't too far and that he could still see me. When he waved back, I smiled and continued to run and play in the field of flowers.

* * *

I walked up to my Daddy. He was peacefully sleeping. I didn't want to disturb him, but this is an emergency. If I can't find Robot Daddy, then another one of my favorite toys could never be used again.

Daddy's eyes fluttered open. "H-hm? What's wrong?"

I kept looking at the ground, "It's gone…"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

I looked at him. "I lost my toy." I frowned. 'Don't cry.' I thought, 'Don't cry.'

We've been looking for Robot Daddy for a while now. But we still couldn't find him.

'He just can't be lost!' I thought, 'This is the one thing that I don't want lost! I was the first time…the second time isn't as important as the first.'

"It's not over here." I heard Daddy say, "You sure you didn't accidently run off and play somewhere else?"

I nodded. But that wasn't true. I ran everywhere. I didn't want to tell him that. I thought that he would get upset and yell.

"Well, if you were only playing over here, then it seems like we should have found this thing already…"

I kept looking through the grass. I just _had _to find this one toy. He was too important to lose.

"Ushio," he started.

I looked at Daddy.

"Let's just forget about it. I'll buy another one just like it on the way home. Okay?"

I started to look through the grass again, "But I want that one."

"It's _gone _now, there's nothing we can do."

I kept looking. I heard Daddy mumble something as he walked away, but I couldn't understand what it was.

'I can't cry. I just need to keep looking for Robot Daddy and I'll find him sooner or later. That way I can always have a memory of my real Daddy.'

"Ushio!" I heard Daddy call my name. I turned back and looked at him. "I'm gonna go further down the way a little bit, alright? You just stay there for now!"

"Okay!" I yelled back. I watched him walk away.

* * *

Daddy didn't come back for a long time. As time went by, the sun started to set. I've been looking in different spots in that time, but I still can't find my toy. I guess I have to deal with the fact that Robot Daddy is gone. The only memory that I have of my Daddy now is the time that I spent with him.

"Ushio!" I turned around and saw my Daddy standing under the tree with an old lady.

'Who is she?' I thought. 'I've never seen her before.'

"Did you find it?" he called out to me.

I stood up and shook my head no.

I saw Daddy and the Old Lady tell each other something. Then Daddy walked down to me.

"Were you searching for it all this time?" he asked.

I looked down, "Mm-hm."

"I see…"

There was complete silence for a few seconds. Then, Daddy walked closer and knelt down next to me. I looked up at him.

"Ushio…" he started, "…I'm sorry to have to say this, but we may not be able to find it. We've done everything we can. All I can do now is buy you a new one, okay?"

I was caught a little of guard. I looked down at the grass, "But that…but that was the only one."

"No, there was a whole bunch of them at the store."

I fiddled with the end of my dress, "But that's the one you picked out…that was the robot you bought me…"

"Huh?"

"That was the first time…" I said quietly. 'Should I call him Daddy out loud?' I thought. I looked up, "…Daddy."

Daddy gasped. I was a little shocked myself. I didn't think that I was going to be comfortable enough to call him 'Daddy'.

He looked down. It was quiet for a moment or two. "Ushio…" he finally said. I looked at him. "…you've been lonely, huh?"

"Mm-hm." I nodded.

"Did you have a fun trip? Even though you were with a mean guy like me?"

"Mm-hm."

"I see…" more silence.

"…Ushio, can I…is it okay if I stay with you?"

When he said that, I wanted to cry with happiness-right then, I knew that he really did love me.

"I know…I know that I've been a bad Daddy for a long time. But from now on, I wanna work hard to take care of you, Ushio." He looked at me and smiled. It was the first time I saw him smile. I knew that he was happy. "So, even if it's tough, is it okay if I stay with you?"

"Mm-hm." I nodded.

"You really mean it?"

I nodded, "I want you to stay."

He looked down again and sniffed. "Thank you."

"But," when I spoke he looked back up at me, "but I'm still sad 'cuz I lost something I can't get back…Daddy?" the need to cry became bigger.

"U-um…" I started to choke on my words. "…I do...I don't have to hold it in anymore, right? Just like you said on the train? Right? 'Cuz Sanae she," I stopped and sniffed. It was getting really hard not to cry. "she told me the only times I can cry are when I'm in the bafroom…" And now, I can finally tell him the second place I can cry, "…or when I'm in Daddy's arms."

It took Daddy a second to respond. Then, he finally looked up at me, his eyes filled with tears. He didn't say anything, but I knew that it was okay to cry now. I walked into his arms and put my head on his shoulder. I cried as if there were no tomorrow. I let out what I've been holding in for five years. All of the confusion, the sadness, and the happiness. The happiness was from that very moment. I have been happy before, but this was different. I can finally be with my Daddy.

Daddy started to hold me tighter. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm _so_ sorry…"

I can finally cry somewhere other than the bathroom. I can finally cry in my Daddy's arms.

* * *

I let my feet dangle from the train seat. I looked out at the pretty sunset with a smile on my face. My Daddy is sitting right across from me.

"Hey, Ushio."

I stop looking out the window and look at my Daddy.

"I can tell you about Mommy if you'd like that."

"Mm-hm!" I nodded.

"Okay then." He patted the spot next to him, "Here, come sit over here."

'First I become close with my Daddy and find out that we're going to live together. Now I get to know about my Mommy. This is the best day ever!' I thought as I moved next to Daddy. I looked at him and saw his smile. I love that smile.

"Now where do I start?" he asked himself. He thought for a minute. "…Back in high school, Mommy was having a tough time, so she cried a lot-that was back when we first met-she didn't believe in herself very much."

I carefully listened every single word he said. I never wanted to forget about what he was telling me right now.

"I remember she was standing at the bottom of the hill at our high school. Do you know what she did when she was standing there that morning? She closed her eyes and she said, 'Anpan'. That was a funny habit Mommy had. When she was afraid, she would say what she wanted to eat out loud and it would make her brave again.

"Back then, Sanae was always busy with work and didn't have time to make lunch for Mommy. Of course, Mommy would have been happy if she had Sanae's food, and maybe Sanae could make time if she had to. But Mommy was too nice to ask her.

"That's what your Mommy was like, really sweet. Let's see, what else?" He searched for more things about Mommy. "Uh, she, uh…uh, your Mommy…Mommy was…" his voice trailed off. Then, tear ran down his cheek and onto his hand, "Nagisa…Nagisa…Nagisa!"

'Why is he crying? Isn't Mommy a good person?' I thought. I didn't like seeing Daddy cry…it makes me want to cry. And now, I didn't have to cry alone or hold it in.

I let my tears fall from my eyes and I tugged on Daddy's shirt sleeve to get his attention. I just had to know why he started to cry when he was thinking about Mommy. He looked at me. "Daddy?"

He smiled and chuckled, "Silly! Why are you crying, too? " He wiped tears from my face and started caressing my hair, "Sorry, it's nothing bad. I was just thinking of Mommy."

'So he just misses Mommy…I do too.' I thought as I looked at him, my eyes still filled with tears.

He sniffed a few times and wiped tears out of his eyes with his shoulder. "Okay, let's get back to the story."

"Back in high school, Mommy was really excited about putting on a play. Have you ever seen a play before?" He kept talking about Mommy and held my hand. That made me feel so happy and loved. As he told the story, I laughed and smiled.

As he continued telling me the story, I saw my dream one more time. And it made me realize something-my dream came true. Me and Daddy became closer, and found out how much we loved each other.

Now Mommy can watch me and Daddy from Heaven, and know that we're happy and no matter what, we will always love her and each other.

**A/N-** **If my family wasn't right next to me, I would be crying my heart out right now. In Ushio's POV, it's just so different. It has more emotion and explains things more clearly, I think, of what was going through Ushio's head when this stuff happened.**

**Please review! Thank you!**

***I don't own Clannad, or its characters. All rights go to its respectful owner.***


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Road Home

Daddy opened the door to the bakery with one hand, and held my hand in his other.

"We're home!" we said in sync.

"Welcome back, you two!" Sanae smiled. Me and Daddy walked into the bakery, "Did you have fun on your big trip?" Sanae asked us.

"Yup!" I said.

"I had a good time, but I'm still waiting on my date with you." Daddy told Sanae.

"Huh?" Sanae didn't understand. I didn't either.

"It's not fair to promise a guy a date then not show up. Such a shame, I was really looking forward to our little vacation together!"

I heard footsteps. I saw Akki in the doorway.

Akki called Daddy a bad word. I'm not sure why he did, but I'm sure he was just joking. He told Daddy to stop hitting on his wife. I am so confused.

I used my free hand and fist pumped the hair, "Akki!"

Daddy let go of my hand and bent down to me. "Of course, you're coming on our date too, Ushio, right?"

"Yup!" I nodded, even though I was still a little confused.

"Alright, then you can count me in, too." Akki said.

"Perfect! The three of us will have a great time, right, Tomoya? Ushio?" Sanae asked.

"DON'T LEAVE ME OUT, I WANNA PLAY TOO!" Akki said. Sanae laughed. I smiled at my Daddy. He smiled right back, with that smile that I love so much.

Me and Daddy prayed in front of Mommy's picture. I told Mommy all about me and Daddy's trip and how we'll be living together from now on. I also told her that I loved her.

Daddy went somewhere upstairs. He was soon followed by Sanae. Akki and me were doing impressions, just like we always do.

"Hey, Ushio!" Akki said after we finished doing impressions.

"Hm?"

Akki grabbed his baseball bat, "Go upstairs and tell your Daddy that I want to play a game of baseball with him."

"Okay!" I ran upstairs. I saw that Mommy's old room door was opened and Daddy and Sanae were in there.

"Hey, Daddy!" I ran and plowed into him, hugging his legs.

He picked me up, "Hey, Ushio. What's up?"

"Akki says he wants to play baseball with you!"

"Huh?"

* * *

Me and Sanae sat on a green blanket while Daddy and Akki played baseball.

"You can do it!" I shouted.

"Give it your best out there, you two!" Sanae called out.

"Huh…finally decided to wake up, huh? Welcome back to the world of the living, kid." Akki said to Daddy.

"Just shut up and pitch the ball!" Daddy said.

"Ushio!" Akki called out to me, "I'll show you what a loser your Daddy is, so you can tease him about it for the rest of your life!"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" Daddy said, trying to stop Akki from telling me bad things about him.

"So, who do you think is going to win the match, Ushio?" Sanae asked me.

I looked at Sanae. I've never seen Daddy play baseball before, so of course, I think, "Akki."

"Gimme a break!" Daddy said.

"Ha! She's been watching my powerful pitches her entire life!" Akki bragged.

"Fine. Then I'm going to show her a home run!" Daddy said, pointing the bat at the sky.

"Heh. We'll see."

Akki and Daddy got into position. I watched very closely. Akki threw the baseball, Daddy swung the bat and-**_BAM! _**He hit a home run! Just like he said he was going to! We all watched in amazement.

"You see that, Ushio?!" Daddy asked me.

"Yup!" I smiled proudly.

**_CRASH! _**The ball had crashed into a window. But I didn't look away-I put my hands into fists and chanted, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"

"That's okay, nothing a little apology can't fix, right?" Sanae smiled.

* * *

Akki and Daddy held their glasses of beer high in the air and clinked them together. Throughout dinner, we all talked and laughed. It was a nice change to have Daddy with us at the dinner table.

I eventually fell asleep. Daddy was right next to me.

* * *

Me and Daddy stood next to each other outside of the Furukawa bakery. Sanae and Akki stood in front of us.

"Alright, see you later." Daddy said, holding a bag in one of his hands.

"Away we go!" I said, my yellow backpack on my back.

"Take care, you two!" Sanae said.

"Yeah, go get 'em, Ushio!" Akki said, giving me a thumbs-up.

"Okay!" I said, giving him a thumbs-up.

"Who are you gonna go get?" Daddy asked.

"Okay, Ushio," I turned my attention to Sanae, "from now on, it's just you and your Daddy. Show him what a good girl you are!"

"Okay!" I nodded my head.

"I forgot to ask, but I hope you guys can help me pick her up and drop her off at kindergarten if I get held up at my job." Daddy asked.

"Yeah, just leave it to me!" Akki said, pointing to himself.

'Daddy must have a really hard job.' I thought.

"And the other thing, have you thought about that?" Sanae asked Daddy.

"…It'll be fine…don't worry, I'll pay him a visit soon."

'Who is Daddy talking about? Will I meet someone new soon? Is he important to Daddy?' I thought.

We started walking away. When Sanae and Akki were almost out of sight, I turned around and waved good-bye to them. They waved right back.

* * *

"Oh, yes, I heard about your situation from . Oh, I'm happy you could finally make it, Mr. Okazaki!" my substitute teacher said to Daddy.

Daddy bowed his head, "Thank you, ma'am, I appreciate it." he lifted his head back up.

Daddy turned to me, "Okay, Ushio," I turned and faced him as he knelt down to my height, "Daddy's gotta go to work now."

I nodded my head, "Okay! Have a nice day, Daddy!"

"I will. See you later." He stood back up. He and my substitute teacher bowed to each other. Daddy walked away as we waved good-bye.

My two friends walked up to me, "Ushio, who was the guy?" one of them asked me.

"That was my Daddy!" I told them.

"How come he's never came here before?"

"Oh, umm…he's just been busy." I lied. I didn't want to tell any of my friends the real reason. I just wanted to be happy that that he's going to be taking care of me from now on-and I am.

* * *

When school was over, I stood next to my teacher and held her hand. It felt like I've been waiting forever for Daddy!

I finally saw him, and ran up to him. "Daddy!" I plowed into him and hugged his legs, since I wasn't tall enough to hug all of him.

"Hi, Ushio, you ready to go home?" he asked me. He looked at my teacher, "Uh-hello."

"We're in summer session right now, so Ushio's regular teacher is taking time off. I'm sorry you can't meet her." She said.

"Taking time off? Oh, is she sick?" Daddy asked.

"Oh, no, noting like that! Actually, she's going to a child care seminar. She should be back next week, I'm sure you'll have a chance to talk to her then."

"Alright, sounds good." Daddy smiled.

* * *

"So tell me, what's your teacher like?" Daddy asked as we held hands and walked home.

"She has real long hair, she's pretty, and she's nice!" I explained to him.

"Oh, yeah?"

* * *

Daddy's doesn't have a house-he has an apartment. It's a little smaller than the bakery, but it's big enough for me and Daddy.

Daddy knelt down in front of me, "Alright. Daddy needs to go back to work now. If a stranger comes to the door, don't open it no matter what, okay?"

"Okay!" I nodded.

"Now, if anything happens, you just give Sanae a call. You know the number to the bakery, don't you?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Don't worry, I'll be back before it gets dark."

I nodded and smiled.

I got walked to the door and waved good-bye to Daddy.

"I'll see you later!" Daddy waved as he opened the door.

"Bye, Daddy!" I waved, "See ya!"

He walked out the door, closed it, and locked it.

I looked around. Daddy's apartment is really cool!

When you walk in, there's a room with a table-which is moved at night for the futons-a dresser, a TV, and a big window. If you slide it open, then there's a porch that you can stand on and look outside. On one side, there's the kitchen. It has a fridge,-which needs pretty pictures on it-a stove, a sink, and some cabinets. On the other side, there's the bathroom. The bathroom is blue and has a bathtub and potty in it.

I put on my sandals and walked onto the porch. I stood on my tippy toes and looked outside. I put my hands on the bars and looked through the opening. I saw a little sparkling light. I don't know what it is, but it's so pretty!

* * *

I've been coloring for a while to pass time. I drew one of my most favorite things in the world-Nabe!(A.K.A. Botan)

_Ding Dong!_ The doorbell rang. 'Don't open the door to strangers, no matter what!' I reminded myself.

"It's Daddy. My hands are full, can you open the door for me?"

'Daddy's not a stranger, of course I can open the door!' I said as I ran to the door. As soon as I opened the door, I could see why he couldn't open the door.

"I brought a bunch of stuff from the Furokawas. I got the Big Dango Family and all of your clothes and your toys, too!"

* * *

I looked in the bag that Daddy was looking in. He took something out of the bag.

"First, let's find a place to put this. What do you think, where's a good spot?" It was a picture of Mommy. This picture had to go somewhere very, very special.

"Hmm…" I looked around. I ran over to the table that was also holding the telephone. I patted on the spot where I think that it should go, "Right here!"

"Alright then, that works for me." Daddy said as he stood up. He put the picture right where I asked him to. It was perfect.

* * *

Me and Daddy decided to take a walk. Daddy wasn't wearing his work outfit-he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I wasn't wearing my school uniform anymore-I was wearing one of my most favorite dresses and a hat.

"Daddy, can you cook?" I asked him. After the last time he cooked, I wanted to make sure he could cook things other than rice.

"I'm going to learn to cook starting today." He told me, "Let's work on it together, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Okazaki!" someone called out. I looked up at my Daddy. He was looking in the direction that the voice came from.

We walked to where the voice came from. A lady was standing there.

Daddy greeted the lady, "Hi, Kouko. Long time, no see."

"I know, it's been years, hasn't it?" the lady smiled. Then she looked at me, "And who is this?"

"She's my daughter, Ushio." He looked down at me, "It's okay. Say hello, Ushio."

I bowed my head, "Hello, lady."

She giggled and knelt down to me, "Hi there, nice to meet you! I'm Kouko Yoshino."

I looked at her. She's very pretty.

"She looks just like her mother, doesn't she?" she looked at me with sad eyes, "Really brings back memories for me. I bet she'll grow up to be as cute and as brave as her mother, too."

'So I look like my Mommy? That just brings me and Mommy closer!' I thought.

"And hopefully she's have just as many wonderful friends!"

"I sure hope so. I wanna give her the best I can." Daddy looked down at me, "She used to be Mommy's teacher, Ushio."

I gasped with surprise and happiness. I never knew that!

"By the way, Yoshino told me the news about your little sister. She's finally out of the hospital, huh? That must be a big relief." Daddy said.

Kouko smiled, "Yes! The doctor said it was a miracle, but we always had faith that she would wake up someday. We never gave up hope." She stood up, "Actually, my sister's with me right now if you wanna meet her." She turned around and cuffed her hands around her mouth, "Fu-Chan!"

There was a girl playing in the sandbox. She was patting down the sand hill she made. She looked up at her sister and walked over to where we were.

"You don't have to be shy, go ahead and introduce yourself." Kouko told her sister.

She didn't do anything.

Daddy put his hand on her head, "So, this is your sister, huh?"

The girl swatted Daddy's hand away, and made a weird sound. As if she was sneezing. They did that a few times. Eventually the girl ran away, screamed, and hid behind a pole. She was starting to scare me.

"She's got some sense of humor, doesn't she?" Daddy pointed out.

"It's okay, come back! These two are my friends, there's no need for you to be afraid!" Kouko told her sister.

The girl came back to us and stood next to her sister.

"This is my sister Fuko." Kouko turned to her sister, "Fu-Chan, this is Okazaki and Ushio."

Fuko bowed, "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you, too." Daddy said.

I bowed, "It's nice to meet you."

Me and Fuko raised our heads. She looked at me for a second, then started to freak out a little bit.

"What now?" Daddy asked.

"She's so cute, can Fuko hug her please right now?!" She didn't wait for a response, she hugged me anyways. I nearly fell over, I was so caught off guard.

"Why bother asking if you're gonna do it anyway?!" Daddy exclaimed.

Fuko continued to hug me really tight with her face all scrunched up. I don't know why she thinks I'm so cute.

"Fu-Chan, you can't do that, it's rude!" Kouko said.

Fuko's face went from scrunched up, to happy and sweet. It was almost as if she was hypnotized. She kept saying, "Ahhhh...!"

"Don't be hard on her, she can't help the way she is." I heard Kouko say to Daddy.

"How old is she, by the way?" Daddy asked.

"Believe it or not, she's the same age as you. I know she may seem a little immature, but she's been asleep for an awfully long time, so she still had the mentality of a high school freshmen…"

"High school? You sure you don't mean kindergarten?"

I could barley understand their conversation, though, only because I can mostly hear is, "Ahhhh….!"

Fuko snapped out of her trance, but she continued to hug me, "My goodness, you and Okazaki sure love to pick on poor little Fuko!" she looked down at me, "But I'll show you, I'm going to make Ushio my little sister!"

Little sister?! What?!

She tried to walk while hugging me, but she couldn't.

"Fu-Chan, stop, that doesn't even make any sense!" Kouko said.

Fuko stopped and looked up at Kouko and Daddy, "Then I can sneak her away while you're both confused?"

"No way!" Daddy and Kouko said in sync.

She scrunched her face and hugged me tighter again. "Alas, the day is lost!"

* * *

"I know she may be a little on the weird side," Daddy said as we ate dinner together, "but aren't you glad that you made a new friend today?"

"M-hm!" I nodded.

"By the way, Daddy's taking a day off from work tomorrow. I wanna go somewhere together, okay?

"Are we going on a trip?" I asked.

Daddy wiped off some sauce from my face with his finger and laughed, "Heh, no not exactly."

He finished wiping the sauce from my face and smiled at me.

* * *

Daddy tucked me in and then got into the futon next to me. This was a nice change-I wasn't sleeping in a dark room anymore. I had Daddy with me. I felt safer. I had my dango plushy and was ready for bed.

"So you love the Big Dango Family too, huh?" Daddy asked.

"Uh-huh! Sanae told me that it smells like Mommy." I said.

"I see."

I smelled the dango. It smelled really fruity and sweet, "It smells good." I fell asleep right after that, feeling loved and protected.

* * *

Me and Daddy walked holding each other's hand. I don't know where we we're going, but Daddy said that it was important. Daddy is wearing jeans and a green t-shirt. I'm wearing a yellow sundress and hat.

We stopped in front of an old-looking house. The mail box is full and it has a bunch of stickers on the door, and I have no idea why they're on there. Daddy opened the door.

"I'm home." He said.

Who is he talking to?

We walked in. It smelled like the icky kind of smoke and alcohol. There are garbage bags full of junk all over the place. The radio was on too. Daddy turned it off. Sitting at the table was an old man. He had gray hair.

"Hm?" the man said. He turned around and looked at Daddy. I took off my hat and keep standing in the doorway.

"Oh! It's you!" he smiled. His voice was quiet and raspy, "Hi, Tomoya."

Daddy looked like he wasn't expecting him to say that. Everything was quiet for a minute or so.

"I'm finally home…" Daddy said.

"Yeah…" the old man said.

"You're looking old, Dad."

'Wait…if the old man is Daddy's Daddy then…that makes the old man my Grandfather!' I figured out.

"Yeah…" Grandpa said. He looked back at me. Then Daddy did.

"This is your Granddaughter, Ushio." Daddy said.

"Oh."

I bowed, "Nice to meet you, Grandpa."

"Nice to meet you." Grandpa said.

Daddy sat down. I walked next to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Have you been home all this time?" Daddy asked Grandpa.

"Mm-hm."

I knelt down and put my hats and hands on my lap.

"I went and saw Grandma just the other day."

"Oh?"

"Ushio and I took a trip up north and I spoke to her then. Do you remember the place? You took me there once when I was little."

"Hmm…"

"…Grandma told me all sorts of things. About me and you when I was growing up. It made me realize how difficult it must have been for you."

'So that's where he went. He talked to his Grandma and that's what took him so long.'

"It also brought back a lot of memories…" Daddy continued, "…listen, Dad…you must be tired, right?"

"Huh?"

"Don't you think it's finally time you took a vacation? Why don't you go back to your home town? Grandma's waiting for you-at the place where you took my hand and decided to raise me on your own, all those years ago."

Grandpa waited for a minute until he responded, "…huh…"

"You've worked hard enough, Dad. You've done_ more_ than enough for me. You can rest now. You can _finally_ go back home."

Something is wrong. I can tell. I can just _tell_ that Daddy is sad. I just don't understand why…

"Go and spend some time with your mother." He continued, "Okay?"

Grandpa sighed. Then he looked at me. Then he looked away again. "…A-are you sure?" he finally said, "It's alright now?"

"Is what alright?" Daddy asked. I didn't understand either.

"Have I…have I done everything I need to do yet?"

It took Daddy a minute to respond. "…Listen, you sacrificed everything you had to raise me. How could you even ask me a question like that?"

I looked at Daddy. Just like I thought, something was wrong. He looked like he was going to cry.

"You gave up your whole life for a worthless son like me…an in all that time, I never even thought to thank you…" he looked at the ground, "You've done enough, okay?"

He started to cry. I could tell that he was trying to hold it in, but he couldn't. Can't he cry in his Daddy's arms just like I can cry in his? When we were on the trip, he said that when I get older, sometimes I won't be able to cry when I want to…is he already too old to cry when he needs to?

'You can cry, Daddy.' I wanted to tell him, 'You don't need to hold it in anymore. I'll be there for you like you were for me.' But I couldn't say anything. Sanae once told me that if something is personal to someone else, then I can't intrude. So I just sat there. I wanted to look away. I didn't want to see Daddy cry and suffer from sadness.

"Oh, I see…" Grandpa finally said, "…My work was already done…and I never even realized it." Silence. "…That's wonderful. What a relief. It's over."

* * *

I helped Daddy and Grandpa clean Grandpa's house.

I took a bath at Grandpa's house and watched as Daddy cleaned Grandpa's back. Daddy still looked upset.

'Why is Daddy helping Grandpa so much? Isn't Grandpa supposed to be taking care of Daddy?' I wondered.

* * *

I sat in Grandpa's lap as Daddy packed some of Grandpa's clothes.

"You're all packed. You've got a change of clothes and I gave you a little money just in case."

"Thank you, that means a lot." Grandpa said.

"I'll give Grandma a call soon to let her know that you're coming. Just be careful not to lose your bag along the way."

"Okay. I'll be careful."

* * *

We all stood outside of Grandpa's house. Me and Daddy stood next to each other. Grandpa stood in front of us.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of the house. I'll clear up your debt, too." Daddy told Grandpa.

"A…Alright, thank you." Grandpa said.

"Ushio, hey," I turned to Daddy, "say good-bye to Grandpa, okay?"

I turned back to Grandpa and waved to him, "Bye-bye! See you, Grandpa!"

"Bye-bye." He walked up to me and rubbed my head. I looked up at him and put my hand down.

He took his hand off of my head and turned towards my Daddy. "Well, this is it. Thanks again."

"You gotta take good care of yourself, okay?" Daddy told Grandpa.

"Yeah."

"And don't…don't drink too much."

"Yeah."

Daddy was quiet for a few seconds.

"Don't smoke too much either, okay?"

"Yeah." Grandpa smiled. It was the first time I've seen him smile. And probably the last…

Daddy was quiet again.

"Live a long and healthy life."

Quiet.

"Someday I'll repay all the kindness you've shown me." Daddy's voice was starting to get a little shaky.

Quiet.

"I'll do whatever it takes, okay?"

Quiet.

I saw tears in Daddy's eyes.

"Huh?" Grandpa said, "Tomoya? What's wrong?"

Daddy was _crying._ And I couldn't do anything about it, no matter how much I wanted to. I just stared at him. Seeing Daddy cry made me want to cry, but I had to be strong for Daddy.

"C'mon now, why are crying?" Grandpa put his hand on Daddy's head. Daddy swatted his hand away.

I tugged on Daddy's pants. He looked at me, tears falling from his face. I gave him a look that said, 'Why are you crying?'

"U-uh, I'm sorry, Ushio." He wiped his tears, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine." He gave me a pitiful smile. But I knew that he really wasn't fine. We both looked back at Grandpa.

"Dad." Daddy said to Grandpa, "…Thank you. For everything."

"Sure." Grandpa said.

Everything was quiet-again.

"….Well…good-bye." Grandpa finally said.

"Yeah, take care, Dad." Daddy said.

"Sure. I will. You too." He turned and walked away. He kept walking. I held Daddy's hand. He held onto mine.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Daddy said, even though Grandpa couldn't hear him.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a green light. I looked at it. It floated down in front of my Daddy. Then went into where his heart was. That light…it looks so, so familiar…but I don't know where it's from.

What just happened? I just don't get it…

"Hm? Is something wrong, Ushio?" Daddy asked.

"There's a light…"

"A light? Is it too bright? Come here-" He moved me into the shade. He turned back towards his Daddy.

I kept looking at where the light went. Why the heck just happened? Why did that light look so familiar? I guess it was just my imagination…I pushed what just happened out of my head and looked back at Grandpa, who was almost out of sight. This is probably the last time I'll ever see Grandpa.


End file.
